Breakdown of Kukaan ei pyyhi lehtiä, mutta kasvi kukoistaa silti.
mutta
but
ei
no / not (en, et, ei, emme, ette, eivät)
kukaan
anyone, nobody (with negation)
lehti
leaf
silti
anyway / nevertheless
kasvi
plant
kukoistaa
to flourish
pyyhkiä
to wipe
Questions & Answers about Kukaan ei pyyhi lehtiä, mutta kasvi kukoistaa silti.
Why is the object lehtiä in the partitive case here?
Because the first part of the sentence is negative (Kukaan ei pyyhi). In Finnish, the object of a negative sentence is always in the partitive case. Lehtiä is the partitive plural of lehti (leaf).
I know kukaan means "anyone", so why does the translation say "nobody"?
Finnish doesn't have a single standalone word for "nobody". Instead, you use the pronoun kukaan together with the negative verb ei. Literally, kukaan ei pyyhi means "anyone does not wipe", which is how Finnish expresses that "nobody wipes".
What is the basic form of pyyhi and why does it look different here?
The dictionary form is pyyhkiä (to wipe). Because it follows the negative verb ei, it must be in the connegative form. This form is built like the "minä" form but without the "-n" ending (minä pyyhin -> pyyhi). This triggers consonant gradation, softening the strong hk to just h.
Could I use kuitenkin instead of silti at the end of the sentence?
Yes, both words work perfectly here to mean "anyway", "still", or "nevertheless". Silti is very common in spoken Finnish because it is shorter and provides a punchy way to emphasize a contrast.
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